Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Over 60 & Still In The Game, What's It Like For You


blue
 Share

Recommended Posts

Most of us over 60 guys that are still in the game have as much as 50 years in the game. We have seen more technology business, industry, and attitude changes than most.

When I say still in the game, I don't mean guys that have [i]"made it"[/i]. I mean the guys like me that are still out there playing clubs and bars.

Were older, we have a lot to look back on, maybe somethings we would have done differently, are you happy?

What's it like? These are the issues I would love to hear about. Even things as simple as gigging clubs and bars, it's not like were still in our 20s, 30s 40s or 50s. It's not the 60s or the 70s anymore.

Thoughts, comments and historical insights.

BTW, you don't have to be over 60 to participate.

Blue

Edited by blue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418856065' post='2634224']
One of my concerns is dealing with younger musicians that have a limited knowledge in terms of rock and roll history, how it started and evolved into what it is today.

Blue
[/quote]
Well I'm 51 and I've just joined a band where the othe guys are 70 Maybe they think that about me :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418856065' post='2634224']
One of my concerns is dealing with younger musicians that have a limited knowledge in terms of rock and roll history, how it started and evolved into what it is today.

Blue
[/quote]

I would view that as a positive thing, means they're less likely to spend their time rehashing all the old rock'n'roll cliches that have already been done to death a thousand times over.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1418857403' post='2634250']
I would view that as a positive thing, means they're less likely to spend their time rehashing all the old rock'n'roll cliches that have already been done to death a thousand times over.
[/quote]

..or maybe that's exactly what they'll do, thinking they're being original. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm playing with a twenty four year old guitarist in one of my bands. What he lacks in experience and immediate reference to a catalog of hundreds of songs in his head, he more than makes up for in an original touch to his lead and rythym work. He does learn the song pretty much note for note at first, but he then just . . . makes it "his song." It's actually quite refreshing.

<><Peace

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1418857155' post='2634244']
Well I'm 51 and I've just joined a band where the othe guys are 70 Maybe they think that about me :o
[/quote]

Sorry Les, but your more on the [i]older[/i] side than [i]younger[/i]. :D But it's all relative.

Your 70 year old band mates are the perfect age for rock history. If your 70 you've seen most of it.

Blue

PS: I wish I was still 51 :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='dadofsix' timestamp='1418861732' post='2634318']
I'm playing with a twenty four year old guitarist in one of my bands. What he lacks in experience and immediate reference to a catalog of hundreds of songs in his head, he more than makes up for in an original touch to his lead and rythym work. He does learn the song pretty much note for note at first, but he then just . . . makes it "his song." It's actually quite refreshing.

<><Peace
[/quote]

I know a 19 year old guitarist singer like that. Heard him nail [i]She Caught The Katie and Left Me a Mule To Ride[/i]. However he has no idea who Taj Mahal is or what he's singing about. So for me, not impressed. But that's just me.

Blue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1418857403' post='2634250']
I would view that as a positive thing, means they're less likely to spend their time rehashing all the old rock'n'roll cliches that have already been done to death a thousand times over.
[/quote]

[i]"Everything is a rehash all the old rock'n'roll cliches that have already been done to death a thousand times over".[/i]

Blue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1418881224' post='2634356']

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]You can do anything in your 50s, or 60s, or 70s, except create a back catalogue. [/font][/color][/quote]

I would love to play bass with an artist with catalog that everybody knows. I never had the talent to create a catalog. :D

Blue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really care how old anyone is,as such, it really depends on whether they know what they are doing...
and IME, too many really don't, oh well..
Someone can have potential at 25 and think they are the bees knees, but if no one is buying and they
are still the same at 35, then it means not a lot...and been rather wasted in terms of musical growth, ...
but then again to some, there are way more important things in their lives...

When I started, you had to have real talent to get anywhere, IMO... you weren't likely to fluke it too often, whereas today
there seem so many more opportunities and with the likes of the TV shows, you can get quite a way without even being
able to sing by good bar bands standards..

My little theory is that a few 'stars' would never have gotten beyond pub bands years ago as they can't sing in tune very well..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418856065' post='2634224']
One of my concerns is dealing with younger musicians that have a limited knowledge in terms of rock and roll history, how it started and evolved into what it is today.

Blue
[/quote]Best of luck with that :rolleyes:

One of my concerns is every day I see school children walking on pavements & roads without the slightest care about anybody else around them - or in fact - on a collision course toward them. They have no respect for anyone - least of all old or disabled persons - they have their earphones in or playing games/sending texts/looking at photo's/facebook/twitter/taking selfies - whatever! Certainly not looking where they're going at any moment & not a thought about their future.

They really need a wake up call about life in general, their attitude to others, their behaviour etc.etc. dare I mention respect for their elders? I doubt there's any room in their apparently pea sized brains for 'rock & roll history'!

Maybe youngsters with a interest in music have a bit more Raison d'être, I don't know.

Rant over :(

Nurse - pills please :D

Edited by KiOgon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm soon to be 63 and have now been playing in public since 1968 on various instruments. I play quite a bit with younger people and it's been quite refreshing a lot of the time except for the ones who have only just discovered all the old stuff I don't want to play any more.

I consider myself lucky in that I honestly believe that I grew up at the best time in musical history. I've lived through all the changes and revolutions that apply to my musical interests.

Playing with people my age and older can be a little frustrating at times where they are still living in the 70's and when I suggest trying maybe some Blink, Green day or Blondie stuff for a little excitement, I get all the groaning about "modern stuff" as they don't realise just how old it is. It's just not proper music to them. Same in reverse when I suggest old numbers by Piaf and Sinatra. They're great songs that can be challenging to play.

I try to keep my eyes and ears open to everything, that way you don't miss out on the good songs that came after, and before, all the "classic" stuff associated with my age group.

So, apart from getting tired easily and having aches and pains, it's still fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a bit of a take on this. - I used to be a FOH sound engineer at a venue that would hold themed weekends.

Although I'm in my late 30s, I grew up listening to my parents' choice of 1960s music (amongst others) and loved it all. However, I used to dread 60's themed weekends. I used to find that in a lot of cases, the real talented stars from that era would have made their money and were probably on a beach in California and nowhere to be seen. The "authentic" band would be made up of someone like the original keyboard player who left just as they were getting famous, and the rest would be replaced by mates who weren't good enough to be in the original lineup back in the 60s. Add to this that they're all deaf from years playing with bad PAs and backline, and the sound coming from them would be atrocious! It used to ruin many a classic for me.

Those guys would have been in their early 60s when I worked with them, and be in their 70s now.

However, on the flip side of that, I remember a few examples where the star of the era would have their son on bass or drums. As a father myself, I think that would be a great bonding thing to do, but quite often, you'd end up with some sort of furious slapping solo or double kick drum fill in the middle of a classic 60s track that just didn't belong there. Fair enough if you're going to see a band do an experimental version of a classic song, but not from the original artist on a 60's weekender where the rest of the song is being played verbatim.

Therefore, I think there's advantages and disadvantages of both young and old!

This is all IME and IMHO of course!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418877969' post='2634353']
[i]"Everything is a rehash all the old rock'n'roll cliches that have already been done to death a thousand times over".[/i]

Blue
[/quote]

Unfortunately yes, which is why I so rarely play or listen to music anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reference to Rock n Roll history is interesting. Each of us might have a different take on that. Significance for my generation is largely being overlooked (still) by our baby boomer parents through sheer numbers and control of the media as much as anything. These days when I hear a reference to the songs that defined my childhood, a small part of me cheers. Beach Boys, Beatles etc. are all very well but they're not really a part of my upbringing even though I respect their status as classic bands.

Disco rules, it defined my childhood and still defines my tastes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1418894738' post='2634462']
Best of luck with that :rolleyes:

One of my concerns is every day I see school children walking on pavements & roads without the slightest care about anybody else around them - or in fact - on a collision course toward them. They have no respect for anyone - least of all old or disabled persons - they have their earphones in or playing games/sending texts/looking at photo's/facebook/twitter/taking selfies - whatever! Certainly not looking where they're going at any moment & not a thought about their future.

They really need a wake up call about life in general, their attitude to others, their behaviour etc.etc. dare I mention respect for their elders? I doubt there's any room in their apparently pea sized brains for 'rock & roll history'!


Rant over :(

[/quote]

This doesn't apply to just school children - people of pretty much all ages are like that these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418877746' post='2634352']
I know a 19 year old guitarist singer like that. Heard him nail [i]She Caught The Katie and Left Me a Mule To Ride[/i]. However he has no idea who Taj Mahal is or what he's singing about. So for me, not impressed. But that's just me.

Blue
[/quote]
Why on earth would you expect a 19 year old to know what 'the Katy' was, or who Henry Saint Clair Fredericks is, and why he uses the stage name Taj Mahal, strangely after a building in Agra in India?

I bet most people who ever heard that song have no idea what the Katy was. There are people on this website who don't know.

Surely you'd be better educating the boy rather than being not impressed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1418930502' post='2635011']
Why on earth would you expect a 19 year old to know what 'the Katy' was, or who Henry Saint Clair Fredericks is, and why he uses the stage name Taj Mahal, strangely after a building in Agra in India?

I bet most people who ever heard that song have no idea what the Katy was. There are people on this website who don't know.

Surely you'd be better educating the boy rather than being not impressed.
[/quote]

Most people under 50 will think its a Blues Bros number anyway. Should it be Katy or K.T ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...